Taco Night

An easy, quick and healthy dinner option is fish tacos.  You can pretty much do them with any fish that you like - I like using a mild white fish like halibut, tilapia, or cod.  The entire dish can be done when you get home from work - it just takes a few steps to go through. This recipe is for two people, but can easily be doubled or tripled.

Fish Tacos with Cabbage Slaw
1/2 of a small head of cabbage, shredded, or 1/4 of a large head of cabbage, shredded
1/4 jalapeño, finely diced
1 small orange, juiced
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
splash of extra virgin olive oil

1/2 pound of white fish, such as cod
1 lime and 1 lemon, each zested
1/2 lime, juiced
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/2 tsp smoked paprika (can be skipped if you don't have this, but I suggest getting it so that you have it on hand)
1/2 a jalapeño, thinly sliced
splash of extra virgin olive oil

Extra toppings:
diced mango
diced tomato
red onion
diced avocado

To make the slaw...
Combine the shredded cabbage, diced jalapeño and chopped cilantro in a large bowl.  Add the orange juice, lemon juice, and a splash of extra virgin olive oil. Add a large pinch of salt (about 1 tsp) and some fresh cracked pepper. Toss the slaw together and then put it in the fridge to sit - anywhere from 1/2 an hour to a few hours.

For the fish tacos...
In a small wide bowl combine the lemon zest and juice and the lime zest and juice. Add the smoked paprika and a large pinch of salt and fresh pepper.  Add the sliced jalapeño. Add a splash of olive oil and whisk to combine.

Thinly slice the fish (about 1/4 an inch thick). Add to the bowl and toss to coat. Let the fish marinate anywhere from a few minutes up to 1/2 an hour - you don't want to let it go too much longer than that as the citrus juices will begin to cook the outside of the fish.

Place the fish on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper and sprayed with cooking spray.  Bake the fish at 350 for approximately 10 minutes, or until the fish is just cooked through.  Load your taco shells with the fish, cabbage slaw, and assorted toppings. Serve extra slaw on the side to eat with the tacos.

brunch favorites

Brunch is something that makes everyone happy - it's an excuse to have friends over during the day, and day drinking is completely acceptable at that time.  Brunch is a great way to entertain your friends with easy, inexpensive dishes. One of my absolute favorite brunch dishes is a creme brulee french toast.  I originally followed a Barefoot Contessa recipe closely - overtime I've adapted the recipe a bit and changed some parts of it, but the base is still the same. Thanks Ina - this may be one of the most popular things I've ever made.  This dish is great because not only is it incredibly easy to make, you make it the night before and let it sit in the fridge overnight so in the morning  all you need to do is pop it out of the fridge, let it sit out for 30 minutes to get to room temperature, and then bake it off. This is a recipe you need to try.

Creme Brulee French Toast
1 stick of butter
1 cup of brown sugar, packed
1 loaf of challah bread, but into 1- 1/12 inch slices (I left the crust on, but you can take the crust off if you want. It's even better if the bread is a little stale)
6 large eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups half and half (I use fat-free half and half - it tastes the same here)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1 -2 tsps either: grand marnier, triple sec, godiva chocolate liquor, or butterscotch schnapps (I usually use triple sec since I always have that on hand. When I have it on  hand, I like to use either chocolate liquor or butterscotch schnapps as the liquor in this)
pinch of salt

Directions
Melt the butter and brown sugar in a small sauce pan. Stir frequently until the brown sugar and butter are totally combined and the mixture looks like melted caramel.  Pour the caramel mixture into the bottom of a 13 x 9 sized baking dish (or a dish that similarly sized).

Take the pieces of challah and place them over the caramel.  Cut the pieces as necessary to make them fit, making sure that the bottom of the dish is completely covered. You can add a second layer of challah to use up the bread. Press the bread down into the dish.

Combine the eggs, half and half, vanilla, cinnamon and liquor.  Pour the mixture over the bread.  Press the  bread down, helping the bread soak up the egg mixture.  The dish will look like it has too much egg mixture in there but it's fine.  Cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge overnight.

The next morning take the french toast out of the fridge 1/2 an hour before you start cooking it.  Once it sits at room temperature for 1/2 an hour, place the baking dish on a larger sheet pan in case it bubbles over.  Bake the french toast at 350 for approximately 40 minutes, or until the edges are getting golden brown and the middle is puffed up.

This is delicious on its own. If you REALLY want to impress people, make the sauce below to pour over the french toast:

Combine 1/2 cup cream and 1/2 cup brown sugar in a small sauce pan over medium heat.  Add a 1/2 tsp vanilla extract. Whisk until the cream heats up and the sugar melts into it.  Drizzle the sauce over each serving of the french toast.

charter chilihead

As chili cookoffs are rapidly approaching, I'm spending each weekend making test batches of chili in preparation.  This weekend was the first time attempting to make both red and green chili at the same time, both with a 3 hour time frame from start to finish.  We are getting there flavor wise for our chili. Wondering what it tastes like? Well - you can taste it yourself! While I am still waiting for the official confirmation, everyone should plan on attending the New York Chili Cookoff on April 21st in Staten Island and support our team.  Here is a picture of my official scroll, proclaiming me a chili head:

I'll be back to posting recipes this week. I've been lazy, I know - I'll be better :)

get excited...

It's arrived! I am now a legitimate member of the International Chili Society.  I received my bylaws, a proclamation proclaiming me a "Charter Chilihead", and a membership card in the mail. Yes, I'm that awesome.  So what does being a member of ICS entail? It means that now, when our amazing chili cook off team, Maryland MANS Chili, enters into competitions, if we happen to win a competition we are guaranteed entry into the World Championship Chili Cook-off.

We are expanding the amount of cook-offs that we enter - in addition to the DC 101 Chili Cookoff that we are competing in May 12th, we are also entering into the New York Chili Cookoff, which will be held in glorious Staten Island on Saturday April 21st.   We are entering into the red chili, green chili, and salsa competitions.  I encourage you all to come and support our team! It should be a fun day, filled with chili, chili, and more chili!

So far we've tried out making our first batch of green chili. While it wasn't perfect, I think it's a winner and see great things for it. Anyone who wants to come down to Bay Ridge and be a chili taster you let me know...

fresh and fruity

This weekend Steve and I had a little celebration for our 30th birthdays.  As usual, in my family, I acted as bartender for part of the evening.  I stole a drink idea from one of our favorite bars in Boston, aptly named Drink. It's one of those bars where you can tell the bartenders the type of alcohol you like and what you are in the mood for and they make you exactly what you want.  I walked in there wanting a vodka drink (of course), that was floral and fruity. Here's what they came up with, and what I made this weekend. Warning - they are much more potent than they taste.

2 parts vodka
2 parts fresh grapefruit juice
1 part St. Germain elderflower liquor
1 part simple syrup (see my prior post about sangria for the recipe for simple syrup here)

Combine all the ingredients in a large pitcher.  Shake each drink individually in a cocktail shaker with ice, then pour into martini glasses.

It's a great summertime drink, party drink... really it's an anytime drink. Enjoy!

back to basics - salad dressing

Salad dressing is probably one of the first things I started making on my own.  I've never been a huge fan of bottled dressings, thinking they either too heavy or too caloric to be worthwhile.  Eating a salad at a restaurant always tasted better, where the dressing was fresh. However, the dressings you get in restaurants are often incredibly caloric, using a three-to-one ration of oil to vinegar/acid. I prefer a more acidic dressing, or diluting the sharp vinegar tones with something like honey to make the dressing more well-rounded, instead of doubling or tripling the amount of olive oil involved. Once you start making your own dressing, you'll be amazed at how easy it is, and how your salads start tasting better.

Lemon Vinaigrette
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp honey/agave

Combine the lemon juice, salt, pepper and honey in a small bowl.  Slowly whisk in the olive oil. That's it!

You can do endless variations - substitute the lemon juice for any sort of vinegar (balsamic, red wine, apple cider, sherry). You can also add in 1 tsp of mustard to the vinaigrette to give it a little more of a bit and make it a little heartier.  The salt here is very important - without putting enough salt in your dressing your entire salad will be lacking in flavor.  After you're done combining the ingredients, make sure you taste the dressing. If you think it's too sharp, you can add more olive oil or add a bit more honey to mellow out the flavors. Whichever flavor you chose, all you need to do each time is do two parts acid to one part extra virgin olive oil to make a healthy, bright dressing for whatever you chose to put it over.

Note: the lemon vinaigrette above also works great over seafood, such as steamed or roasted fish, or on roasted chicken to add a punch of flavor. 

healthy side dishes

There are always different food trends - foods that are touted as being the best for you, foods that are all the rage right now.  One food that has been turning up on menus all over the place is kale.  I just started cooking with it within the last year, I think as a result of having some turn up in a farm share we were a part of.  Kale is a dark, tough green that raw is very bitter.  I've started making it in a few ways.  One way is to cook the kale and wilt it lightly in olive oil.  Salt and pepper the kale, and cook until its desired taste.  The other way is to wilt it with an acid, like lemon juice. This is what I do the majority of the time. 

When you get kale from the store it comes in large bunches.  Either way that you cook the kale, the prep is the same.  Each leave of kale has a large, thick rib down the center. You want to pull the leaves away from the rib and toss those - they're too tough and fibrous to eat. 

Wilted Kale Salad

1 head of kale, leaves removed from the the ribs, thinly sliced

2 tbs lemon juice

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp honey or agave

1 large beet, roasted and sliced (wash the beet and wrap it in aluminum foil - you don't need to peel it. roast the beet at 375 until a fork stuck in the beet is easily removed - depending on the size of the beet this could take anywhere from 30 - 60 min)

3-4 tbsp toasted pumpkin seeds, walnuts, or almonds

In a large bowl whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, honey/agave, along with some salt and pepper. Set aside.

Heat 1-2 tsps olive oil in a large sauté pan.  Toss the cut up kale in the olive oil until it get coated in the oil and just barely starts to wilt - about 2-3 minutes.  Put the kale in the bowl with the lemon vinaigrette and toss to coat the kale with the dressing.  Place on the counter top or in the fridge for 1/2 hour.

When you're ready to eat, toss the roasted beet with the kale and taste for seasoning - the kale may need extra salt.  Add the pumpkin seeds or nuts and toss again. Serve. 

This is just a base recipe - you can easily adapt this to use whatever you have in your fridge. It's great with a fruit like nectarine or mango chopped up in there, or something more savory like roasted cubed butternut squash.  Instead of a lemon vinaigrette you can use any fresh dressing you like - today when we ate this salad I made a dressing using sherry vinegar, and used roasted butternut squash, dried cranberries and walnuts with the kale. 

back to basics - perfect pesto

Another basic recipie that can be changed to suit your day to day tastes is pesto.  Everyone loves the classic pesto - basil, parmigiana cheese, pine nuts, and olive oil, but there are many variations you can make using the same basic recipe. All you need for a pesto is some sort of green, some sort of nut, cheese, and olive oil.

This week for a vegetarian "meatball" recipe we made a watercress pesto - and by we, I mean Steve.  It was incredibly simple and tasted amazing - a nice variation on the regular basil pesto that we've all used before.

Chunky Watercress Pesto
One bunch watercress
1/4 cup toasted walnuts
salt/pepper
olive oil - about 1/4 cup
1/4 cup parmigiana cheese
1 tbsp lemon juice

Directions: Thoroughly wash the watercress and spin dry.  Place the watercress and toasted walnuts in a food processor and let them go until completely combined and chopped up finely.  While the food processor is on, slowly stream in the olive oil.  The 1/4 cup is just an approximation on how much to use. I don't like to add too much oil to my pesto in an effort to keep it healthier. The pesto should be completely combined but still pretty thick at this point.  Add in salt and pepper to taste and the cheese - pulse to combine.  Add in the lemon juice and let it puree a second to thin it out a bit.

We used the pesto in its thicker form, on top of lentil meatballs. If you want the sauce thinner you can add more olive oil or thin it out with water or chicken stock. If you are using this for pasta, toss the pasta in the thick pesto, and then slowly add pasta water to the mixture until the sauce is your desired thickness.

Variations
Substitute the following for watercress to make a pesto: basil, spinach, mint, arugula, or any light green that you like - use about 2 cups worth of either of these greens (or a combination, like spinach basil), and use 1/4 cup of some sort of toasted nuts (walnuts, pine nuts, slivered almonds).  Follow the directions above to complete the pesto.

versatility

I like making things that have multiple uses - that way once you learn one recipe you can use it in many different ways.  This weekend I made tomatillo sauce to use in a  mexican type lasagna.  The tomatillo sauce is my go-to green sauce to use whenever I make enchiladas or need a quick different salsa.  It's cheap, easy to make ahead, and freezes well - all good things in my book.  In this recipe I call for one jalapeño with the seeds and ribs removed, but use more or less depending on how spicy you like your food.

Roasted Tomatillo Sauce
2 lbs tomatillos, husks removed, washed and either cut in half or quartered depending on size
1 jalapeño, cut in half and seeds removed
4 cloves garlic
1 medium sized onion, peeled and quartered
2 limes, cut in half
1/2 bunch cilantro

Directions
Heat the oven to 425 degrees
Place the tomatillos, jalapeño, garlic, onion, and two lime halves on a roasting sheet.  Toss everything with olive oil, salt and pepper
Roast until the tomatillos start to break down and the vegetables start to caramelize, about half an hour depending on your oven.

Let all the veggies cool.  Place all the veggies in a blender or food processor.  It will look like this:

Squeeze the roasted lime into the blender.  Squeeze the fresh lime into the blender and add the cilantro in there as well.  Puree everything until completely mixed together and the sauce is somewhat smooth (note - if you are planning on using this as a salsa you can mix it to however chunky you want the salsa - if you're using it as a sauce puree it completely).  Taste for salt and pepper and add as necessary. If using as salsa cool completely and then serve with chips- if using as a sauce either cool or use warm.

A note about spiciness...when I made this sauce this weekend I accidentally made it WAY too spicy (unfortunately this was not my first time messing up and making something incredibly spicy by accident).  I initially added one whole jalapeño and one seeded jalapeño to the sauce. It was ridiculously spicy.   If you make thves sauce too spicy, all you need to do is add more ingredients to bulk up the sauce. If you have extra tomatillos, cut them up and put them in the blender, adding enough until the spice level is what you want.  I didn't have any extra tomatillos, so I used a few cut up roma tomatoes and added some extra lime juice to tone down the heat. A smarter person would start with a little heat and then add more if necessary since that's much easier, but that's not always me....